Yarn field distribution apparatus



Nov. 18, 1969 M. WENGER 3,47

YARN FIELD DISTRIBUTION APPARATUS Filed July 25, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.1

United States Patent US. Cl. 2828 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention discloses a yarn field distribution apparatus capable of engaging with a yarn field or group of yarns moving relative thereto in order to remove yarn accumulations. The inventive apparatus comprises roller means having an outer surface provided with a series of substantially spiral staircase-like adjacently arranged parallelepiped or block-like raised portions. These raised portions incorporate axially extending edge means and tangentially extending edge means. The yarn field passes over these raised portions in such a way that their axially extending edges place the yarn field into oscillation and at the same time their tangentially extending edges break up or remove yarn accumulations passing thereover.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improved yarn field distribution apparatus which is capable of engaging with a yarn field or group of yarns moving relative thereto, in order to remove or break up yarn accumulations.

During the transport of yarn fields, for instance warps, many times yarn accumulations occur, that is to say there exist regions of increased density with respect to the desired distribution of the yarn. What is already known to'the art and quite disturbing is especially the occurrence of adhesively bonded yarn accumulations during departure of a yarn field or group of yarns from the sizing vat of a sizing machine. These yarn accumulations produce an undesirable etfect upon the entire further processing of a warp, in that they render such processing more difficult and impair the appearance of fabrics woven with such warp threads. Oftentimes, an irregular or faulty sizing of the warp which results in yarn accumulations as well as the sticking together of neighboring yarns, results in yarn rupture during further processing operations.

Thus, in order to remove or at least to reduce the effect of yarn accumulations in yarn fields, a whole series of auxiliary devices have become known to the art. However, none of these has proven to be completely satisfactory.

Thus, for instance, it is known to guide the yarn field over a brush roller. However, it has been found that such brush rollers, while they are capable of removing the cross-over of yarns, they are not or hardly able to remove yarn accumulations without any cross-over. This limited effect in the desired way, when using brush rollers, is also associated with considerable drawbacks in that it often results in damage to the fibrils and additionally, these rollers tend to become quite soiled and, therefore, must repeatedly be cleaned at short time intervals.

Furthermore, it is known to the art, and for the same purpose, to conduct yarn fields or groups of yarns over skeleton cylinders or over multiple-edge rods which cause the yarn field to oscillate. Unfortunately, also these devices either poorly or insufiiciently fulfill the expectations placed upon them with regard to operation.

Finally, it has already been attempted to guide yarn fields over threaded expanders or spreader devices in Ice order to remove or break up yarn accumulations. If, with such a threaded expander a yarn accumulation arrives at the top or ridge of a thread course, then indeed, there occurs a distribution whereby the sides of the yarn accumulation of the yarn field which are separated from one another are pulled into the thread root at both sides of the top or ridge of the thread course. However, a considerable drawback is associated with this type of distribution of the yarn accumulation in that new yarn accumulations occur at the thread roots. Consequently, although the use of a threaded expander does in fact break up or remove yarn accumulations, nonetheless it simultaneously results in the formation of new yarn accumulations.

Generally, it has been found that all devices which work according to the principle of a gliding action provide unsatisfactory results, also and in particular, spreading rods which because of their bent configuration can lead to the formation of yarn accumulations at the marginal portions or at the central region.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved yarn field distribution apparatus which effectively overcomes or at least minimizes the drawbacks of the prior art structures.

Another, more specific object of the present invention relates to an improved apparatus for effectively distributing a yarn field or sheet of yarns in order to remove yarn accumulations or agglomerations.

Yet a further significant object of the present invention relates to an improved yarn field distribution apparatus which is relatively simple in construction, economical to manufacture, extremely reliable in operation, not readily subjected to breakdown, requires a minimum of maintenance, and capable of elfectively removing any yarn accumulations which appear at a yarn field.

Now in order to implement these and still further objects of the invention, which will become more readily apparent as the description proceeds, the inventive yarn field distribution apparatus comprises a roller, at the surface of which, a series of spiral staircase-like arranged arranged substantially parallelepiped blocks disposed in rows adjacent one another form raised portions. These raised portions, by virtue of their axially extending edges, cause the yarn field passing thereover to be placed into osciallation and at the same time, by virtue of their tangentially extending edges, remove yarn accumulations which pass thereover.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be better understood, and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent, when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 schematically illustrates an arrangement for guiding a yarn field or sheet through a sizing machine and showing the location of the inventive yarn field distribution apparatus;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the roller member which forms the inventive apparatus;

FIGURE 3 is a development of the roller surface;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IVIV of FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view through the yarn field at the region of the roller member.

THE DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Describing now the drawings, according to FIGURE 1, the yarn field F, a warp for instance, moves in the direction of the arrows from a warp beam frame 1 through a sizing machine. The latter encompasses a sizing vat 2 and a cylinder drying machine or arrangement 3. At the end of the sizing operation the warp is wound at a beaming machine 4 into a warp beam. Between the sizing vat 2 and the drying apparatus 3 the yarn field or sheet F' passes through a so-called wetting dividing zone 5 which provides the most suitable location for placement of the aforementioned yarn field distribution apparatus. This apparatus serves to remove any crossing of the yarns which may have occurred at the sizing vat 2, and particularly also any yarn accumulations which might have been caused by the adhering together of neighboring yarns, in order that the yarns of the field or sheet assume their original position, that is to say continue to travel at a uniformity spacing.

This yarn field distribution apparatus has been generally shown in FIGURE 1 and designated by reference numeral 6, and the details thereof are apparent by referring to FIGURES 2 to 5, inclusive. Thus, it will be recognized that such yarn field distribution apparatus is composed of a roller member 7, the construction of which will be considered in greater detail hereinafter. This roller member 7 is arranged between two guide rollers 8. Furthermore, roller member 7 is preferably mounted so as to be elevationally displacable in the direction of the doubleheaded arrow 21 of FIGURE 2, for instance by providing any suitable adjustment device, schematically indicated in such figure by reference numeral 20, such as displacable bearing blocks or the like, so that it is possible to alter the engagement of such roller member 7 with the yarn field or sheet F which passes between said roller member 7 and the guide rollers 8. The surface of the roller member 7 is not smooth, rather carries a series of substantially parallelepiped block members 22 which form, in addition to the recesses or depressions 9, the raised portions 10. The exact manner in which these blocks 22 providing the raised portions 10 can be provided at the surface of the roller member 7 will be explained in greater detail as this description proceeds. Now, as will be apparent by referring to the development of the surface of the roller member 7 as shown in FIGURE 3, these raised portions 10 are provided in accordance with a specific arrangement. More precisely, the periphery of the roller 7 is subdivided into six equal axially extending regions or strips A, B, C, D, E, and F. In these regions or strips the parallelepiped block-like raised portions 10 are distributed in such a fashion that they are offset or displaced with respect to one another from one region to the next region such that collectively they form a substantially staircase-like spiral. The width of the blocks 22 which form the raised portions 10 and the pitch of the spiral formed thereby are chosen such that the spacing between two neighboring blocks 22 in one strip or region is approximately equal to this width. This can be achieved if the stepwise arrangement of the blocks 22 from one region to the next, in other words the height of the steps in a row, amounts to approximately two-thirds of the width of each block 22.

By virtue of this arrangement there is formed at the surface of the roller member 7 a series of continuously interrupted edges 11 which extend in axial direction of such roller and a series of continuously interrupted edges 12 which extend in the tangential direction thereof. Furthermore, the connecting surfaces or faces 13 and 14, respectively, between a depression or recess 9 and the neighboring raised portion 10 extend in radial planes of the roller member 7, as best evidenced by referring to FIGURE 2.

By further referring to the development of FIGURE 3, it will be recognized that if a yarn accumulation slides in the direction of the arrow over the depicted roller, for instance as shown by reference character F' then at the region A this yarn accumulation will move completely over a raised portion 10. However, already at the region B it will be divided by the tangential edge 12 into a portion at the right thereof which travels over a raised portion 10 and into a portion at the left of such edge 12 which, owing to the yarn tension, will be drawn into a depression or recess 9 located adjacent this raised portion 10.

At the region C, all of the yarns of the original accumulation will pass through a depression, at the region or section D they will again pass over a raised portion, at the region E they will again be divided in the manner explained with regard to passage through the region B, namely some of the yarns will move into a depression and some will pass over a raised portion, and finally at the region F the yarns will again pass through a depression.

The aforedescribed alternation or reversal of the through passage of the yarns forming a yarn accumulation as well as the remaining yarns of the yarn field or sheet F over the edges 11 and 12 of the raised portions 10 causes the entire yarn field to carry out a wave-like movement in two directions which are perpendicular to one another. Moreover, at the same time, the tangentially extending edges 12 additionally bring about a mechanical separation of yarn accumulations, whereby generally after the removal of the marginal portions of the yarn accumulations the remaining yarns tend to separate from one another by themselves.

Now, as far as the construction of the substantially parallelepiped block members 22 which form the raised portions 10 such can be formed by adhesively applying substantially rectangular strips to the surface of the roller member 7, or by machining appropriately shaped segments or cams at the surface of such roller. Furthermore, instead of individually forming these raised portions they can all be connected to one another by cutting them from a substantially cylindrically bent band or foil and adhesively applying them in one working operation to the roller. Conceptionally, then, the raised portions shown in the drawings can be considered to have been formed by any of these techniques.

Finally, it should be mentioned that the particular construction chosen for the exemplary embodiment is not critical and it would be possible to select different arrangements and distributions as well as dimensions for the structure of the inventive yarn field distribution apparatus and still achieve the same result. Moreover, it should be clear that the roller member 7 can be dragged or separately driven.

It should be apparent from the foregoing detailed description that the objects set forth at the outset to the specification have been successfully achieved.

Accordingly what is claimed is:

1. A yarn field distribution apparatus for engaging with a yarn field moving relative thereto in order to rernove yarn accumulations, comprising roller means havmg an outer surface provided with a series of substantially spiral staircase-like arranged parallelepiped block members disposed in rows next to one another and defining raised portions, said raised portions having axially extending edge means and tangentially extending edge means, the yarn field when passing over said raised portions being placed into oscillation by said axially extending edge means and at the same time said tangentially extending edge means separating yarn accumulations passing thereover.

2. A yarn field distribution apparatus as defined in claim 1, further including means for moving said roller means towards and away from the yarn field.

3. A yarn field distribution apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said roller means comprises a substantially cylindrical roller member, said raised portions being formed by rectangular strip means adhesively bonded to the surface of said cylindrical roller member.

4. A yarn field distribution apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein all of said strip means are formed by a substantially spiral pro-grooved band.

5. A yarn field distribution apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said roller means comprises a substantially cylindrical roller member, said raised portions being formed by segments formed at the surface of said cylindrical roller member.

6. A yarn field distribution apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said roller means comprises 'a substantially cylindrical roller member, said raised portions being formed by cam means formed at the surface of said cylindrical roller member.

7. A yarn field distribution apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein said raised portions are arranged in spaced relationship from one another in such a fashion that a recess providing an intermediate space is formed between each two neighboring raised portions, said intermediate space having a width in the axial direction of said roller means which is substantially equal to the width of a raised portion.

8. A yarn field distribution apparatus as defined in claim 7, wherein said raised portions of a row which follow one another in the direction of the spiral staircaselike arrangement are olfset with respect to one another through approximately two-thirds of the width of each raised portion.

9. A yarn field distribution apparatus as defined in claim 1, further including in combination therewith a sizing machine including a sizing vat and a drying arrangement between which there is formed a wetting dividing zone, said yarn field distribution apparatus being located at the region of said wetting dividing zone.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,402,653 6/1946 Clark 2828 2,438,084 3/1948 Wood 2828 2,565,407 8/1951 Still 28-28 LOUIS K. RIMRODT, Primary Examiner 

